beIN MEDIA GROUP (“beIN”) and the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), the world’s leading coalition dedicated to protecting the dynamic legal ecosystem for creative content, have praised the shutdown of four illegal piracy operations in Egypt.
ACE and beIN, which joined the coalition earlier this year, worked together to support the take down of four major illegal live sport operators in Cairo. They are:
- Goalarab.com
- Yalla-Shoot-7sry.com
- yalla-shoot.us
- yallashoot-news.com
Combined, the four websites engaged more than 1.8 million users from Egypt and more than 4.8 million users globally during the month of May 2022. Since the start of this year, an estimated 9 million users in Egypt and 24 million users globally watched illegal content stolen from beIN SPORTS channels.[1]
Almost half of the global visits to these pirate websites came from users in Egypt. These websites were amongst the most popular illegal live sports streaming sites in the Arab-speaking region, with each totalling close to 1 million unique views.
“The successful action against these four illegal piracy operations highlights the real-world value of the new partnership between beIN and ACE,” said Jan van Voorn, executive vice president and chief of Global Content Protection for the Motion Picture Association and head of ACE. “Working together, we have the network, the resources and the expertise needed to tackle the serious threat piracy poses to media companies all over the world and to protect the legal marketplace for content creators.”
A beIN spokesperson added: “Broadcasting piracy threatens sport now and in the future; these sites take funding away from sports fans, players and clubs of all levels and leagues. Actions like those undertaken by Egyptian law enforcement agencies are a huge victory. In concert with ACE, we collectively have the means to support takedowns of this nature throughout the region, and will continue to do so to protect the leagues, fellow broadcasters and the entire sporting ecosystem.”
The action included 60 Egyptian police officers who were supported by the Egyptian Ministry of Internal Affairs, ensuring all relevant authorities were involved. This led to the subsequent arrest of three individuals – and seizure of the domains, assets, and their IT equipment. The domains are now controlled by ACE and are redirecting viewers to watch the content on legal platforms, through ‘Watch legally’.
This action further highlights beIN’s and ACE’s commitment to tackling piracy across the region. As a premium sports and entertainment content provider to more than 40 territories around the world, beIN joined ACE as part of the company’s comprehensive effort to end global content theft.
beIN’s partnership with ACE has already produced results, following the coordination to tackle pirated content during the UEFA Champions League and the CAF Champions League finals.
The daily theft of sport and entertainment programs remains a key threat to the licensed services market. These actions taken by beIN and ACE are the beginning of the partners’ work to bring these pirates to justice. beIN and ACE will continue to work together in fighting online content theft and will release details of future operations in the coming months.
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About beIN MEDIA GROUP
beIN MEDIA GROUP is a leading independent global media group and one of the foremost sports & entertainment networks in the world. The group distributes and produces an unrivalled array of entertainment, live sport and major international events across 5 continents, 43 countries and in 9 different languages spanning Europe, North America, Asia, Australasia and the Middle East & North Africa (MENA).
beIN MEDIA GROUP’s flagship sports network, beIN SPORTS, holds the single largest portfolio of sports rights of any global broadcaster; and through its iconic MIRAMAX film studio, beIN holds an extensive library of Hollywood blockbusters while having a growing presence in series and movies production and distribution, as well as in the digital space. beIN MEDIA GROUP acquired Digiturk, the leading pay-tv operator in Turkey, in August 2016; and now has over 55 million subscribers worldwide. For more information on beIN MEDIA GROUP, please contact: mediaoffice@bein.com.
About The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment
The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) is a global coalition dedicated to protecting the dynamic legal market and reducing online piracy. Drawing upon the global content protection resources of the Motion Picture Association, ACE’s members are: Amazon, Apple TV+, AMC Networks, BBC Worldwide, Bell Canada and Bell Media, Canal+ Group, CBS Corporation, Channel 5, Constantin Film, Discovery, Foxtel, Grupo Globo, HBO, Hulu, Lionsgate, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Millennium Media, NBC Universal, Netflix, Paramount Pictures, SF Studios, Sky, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Star India, Studio Babelsberg, STX Entertainment, Telefe, Telemundo, Televisa, Univision Communications Inc., Village Roadshow, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Charles Rivkin is Chairman of ACE and the Motion Picture Association.
ACE MEDIA CONTACT
Kristen Tarnol
Kristen_tarnol@motionpictures.org
[1] Data sourced from Similarweb for May 2022
